Tales Of Woe
by fanfic-chick-2002
Summary: Monica's life from 16 years after series 8. Gets sad from word go. C&M, R&R, J&P. Please read and review


TALES OF WOE

  
**DISCLAIMER: I do not own Joey, Phoebe, Monica, Rachel, Ross, or Chandler. All other characters that have not appeared in any Friends episode belong to me.**

  
_Chapter One_

  
The Nightmare

  
"Chandler, look out!"   
CRASH   
The sound woke Monica from her sleep. She sat up, sweating, crying-scared. In the past week, she'd been having nightmares of death. Chandler's death, and sometimes Emma and Daniel's too.   
She sub-consciously checked behind her, to make sure Chandler was still there. She sighed with relief as she saw him sleeping there, peacefully. He wasn't suffering these dreaded nightmares like she was.   
She wasn't worried about anything. She would rack her brains all day, trying to figure out why she was having these nightmares. Yet she couldn't think of anything. Her life was perfect. She had her two children, Emma, aged fifteen, and Daniel, aged twelve. They were brilliant students-she and Chandler had read it enough times in reports-and were good, kind children, always helping out at home.   
Their home was beautiful. Not too far away from the city, so they could still visit all their old friends, but far enough into the country for it to be peaceful. A nice, "country" house, as Chandler called it, comparing it to manor houses in Britain. They had moved two years after they were married, when Emma was born.   
It often got confusing, as Rachel and Ross, Monica's best friend and brother, had a child called Emma who was nine months older than Monica's daughter. But Rachel had insisted that Monica call her child Emma. It was, after all, Monica's name. She had chosen it at fourteen.   
When Rachel and Ross had had their second child, this time a boy, they had called him Zach. They had both liked the name, though neither were sure why. Zach was three weeks younger than Daniel, so their children, the cousins, got along well.   
Rachel and Ross had married a year after their Emma was born, despite Rachel at first thinking that Joey had proposed to her. They had got over that misunderstanding, talking and realising that Rachel had had hormone problems, and Ross had proposed instead. Joey, much to everyone's surprise, was fine with it, and, three years later, married Phoebe, to no-ones surprise. "I always knew those two would get together," Ross had said. "They were perfect. Both as ditzy as each other."   
Joey and Phoebe had triplets, which had been conceived the night of their wedding. They had three girls, Paula, Beatrice and Bex, who were now nearly 13.   
Back to Monica. The clock by her bed said 6:15, and she thought she may as well get up anyway. Chandler had a long day ahead of him, travelling to England, and she thought she would surprise him with breakfast in bed. She quietly got out of bed, put on her dressing gown and tiptoed out of the room.   
Soon the bacon was sizzling in the pan, and Monica was padding around getting the cereals out for Daniel and Emma. She knew that Daniel would probably want bacon too, but it was tough. She wanted to spoil Chandler, not everybody. She would miss him-he was going to be gone a whole week. They had only ever spent two nights apart before, and that was when Monica had stayed with Phoebe once when a crisis had come-Joey had forgotten to buy a ring.   
"Mmm...something smells good!"   
Monica turned, startled, but grinned when she saw Chandler standing behind her. "Hi Hun-just doing you a bacon sandwich. You ok?"   
"I'm fine, thank you." He came over to Monica and hugged her from behind as she put more bacon in. "I'm really going to miss you Monica," he whispered in her ear. She felt a tear trickle down her cheek, but wiped it away.   
"Ahem."   
Both parents turned, to see Emma and Daniel standing behind, in their pyjamas. Emma was shaking her head, pretending to be shocked. Daniel was sniffing for bacon.   
"Can I..."   
"No," said Monica. "I'm treating your Dad-he's flying to England today, remember."   
"Can you bring me back a hat?" asked Daniel, interested suddenly.   
"Sure. I remember when I went to London years ago," said Chandler. "It was very...interesting..."

  
~19 years before~

  
Chandler sighed as Joey's face lit up. "Look, look!" he cried, pointing. "Hats!"   
"Oh dear lord..." Chandler jogged to keep up with an excited Joey. They stopped at a vendor's stall, which was selling tacky Union Jack hats. Chandler loathed them. He thought they were silly.   
"So, what are you fine gentleman in the market for? Scarves? Souvenir postcards?" asked the vendor, who, Chandler mused, looked scarily like Richard Branson.   
Joey grabbed a hat. "Hey, check this out!" he cried, and tried it on.   
The vendor passed him a little mirror, obviously used to tourists in this part. "Ooh. That's the stuff," Joey said, admiring himself. "Seriously, Chandler, what do you think?"   
"Well, now I won't have to buy that I'm With Stupid t-shirt anymore," said Chandler sarcastically.   
"I like it," Joey replied, and pulled out his wallet. Chandler stared at him, amazed.   
"You're not really gonna buy that. Look, you've already embarrassed me enough for one day." Chandler looked away, pretending to be interested in the river.   
"I embarrass you?"   
"How can I answer that when I'm pretending I don't know you?" Chandler asked, looking at a boat.   
"He's just jealous," the vendor told Joey. "You'll fit right in that. All Londoners wear them."   
"Then how come no one here is wearing one?" Chandler asked, turning back for once.   
The vendor just looked at Chandler as if it was obvious. "They're all tourists," he said, as if explaining it to a young child.

  
~Present~

  
"Didn't you get with Mom in London?" Emma asked, also interested. Chandler and Monica exchanged glances.   
"Yeah. If it wasn't for alcohol, you two wouldn't be here today," Monica admitted. She herself thought back to that morning.

  
~London Hotel~

  
Ross ran in the room, a boyish look on his face. From what Monica could tell, he was excited. "I'm getting married today!" he cried. There was a response-what, she couldn't tell-and Ross ran out again.   
She then looked out form under the covers, and straight at Chandler. "Do you think he knew I was here?" she said, biting her lip.   
Monica then turned away. She couldn't look at Chandler. She couldn't believe what she'd done. Chandler was her best friend, maybe sometimes better than Rachel, and she'd just slept with him!   
"So-I've never done that with you before," said Chandler.   
"Nooo."   
Chandler paused, before saying: "So, how you doing?"   
"Yup. You?"   
"Yeah. Fine. You?" Monica looked at him. He remembered. "We did you."   
"I'd better get going," Monica said. She turned. "Could you not look?"   
"I don't wanna look!" Chandler cried, turning away, letting Monica get out.

  
~Present~

  
"When will dad be home?" Daniel asked, looking up from the TV. Chandler had left at 7:00-his plane was taking off at 9:30, and they didn't live too far from the airport.   
"Next Sunday. Why?" Monica asked.   
"Just wondering. I hope he remembers to get my hat."   
Monica laughed. "Hey, son, see what's on the news," she said, coming over to sit down.   
"Aw, mom..."   
She flicked him with the tea towel. "Go on. I want to see if Dad's plane left on..."   
She stopped short. Flashing across the bottom of the screen were the words TOP STORY. This always made her stop. Last time it had happened, it was September 11th. This time, she knew. It had something to do with her.   
"For those who have just tuned in, flight 734501 from New York to London has crashed in the Atlantic Ocean. It is believed that the plane was hijacked. All flights have been grounded in America and Europe. There were no survivors."   
Monica sat, hugging Daniel. He was crying, understanding what this news meant. The phone rang. Monica blindly answered it. It was Emma, crying, speaking incoherently.   
"Mom...Dad's dead. Dad's dead..."   
Monica just nodded. She passed the phone to Daniel so he could talk to his sister. She sat, hugging her knees, contemplating life for the first time in decades without Chandler.

  
**CHAPTER TWO COMING SOON**

  
_I know this happened suddenly, but, I'm sorry, a lot of things are going to happen to Monica. I'm sure I will try and end it happily. Whether I do or not is what you will have to find out. Review please._


End file.
